On this day: Michaelmas

On this day we celebrate the feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels.

Raphael

Raphael is the leading character in my favorite book of the bible, Tobias. If you've never read it, it's got everything a great short story should have, including a dog.

From Chapter 6:

"And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him, and he lodged the first night by the river of Tigris. 2 And he went out to wash his feet, and behold a monstrous fish came up to devour him. 3 And Tobias being afraid of him, cried out with a loud voice, saying: Sir, he comes upon me. 4 And the angel said to him: Take him by the gill, and draw him to you. And when he had done so, he drew him out upon the land, and he began to pant before his feet. 5 Then the angel said to him: Take out the entrails of this fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for you: for these are necessary for useful medicines. 6 And when he had done so, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way: the rest they salted as much as might serve them, till they came to Rages the city of the Medes. 7 Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech you, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which you have bid me keep of the fish? 8 And the angel, answering, said to him: If you put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof drives away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them. 9 And the gall is good for anointing the eyes, in which there is a white speck, and they shall be cured."

Michael

St. Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. We humbly beseech God to command him, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Gabriel

Have anyone's words been quoted more often? "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee."

Click here for the Liturgy of the Hours. The sermon by Pope St. Gregory the Great, from the Office of Readings, is interesting. "You should be aware that the word 'angel' denotes a function rather than a nature."